markeb

Pretty sure Jim actually doesn't drink. From past posts Iain sounds like more of a white wine drinker. Long way of saying I doubt it, but will wait until Jim comes back and answers...

They'd be with the menus, but usually in a separate tab for wines. If you're not seeing anything, change to a current sailing.

Too many hotels to choose from. If I'm reading correctly, you're looking for one night? How many people and rooms? What's your budget? What time do you arrive in LGA? Are there things you want to do or see before the cruise? Are you simply looking for a place to eat, or a really nice meal? Most nicer hotels will be in Manhattan. Lower Manhattan can be more affordable than Midtown and there are ways to get to Brooklyn by ferry if you so desire. Midtown is generally more expensive, but there's more to do if you're arriving earlier in the day. There are hotels in Brooklyn as well, of course. If you're arriving late and just want a place to stay, those are good options. Beyond that, depends on budget and preferences.

Decoy is showing up for Summit next month in Luminae, at $17. Not that it represents some great buy or great wine, but it is available in the app. But it's a pretty pathetic by the glass list for Luminae! I'd probably pay the upcharge for the Kiona Merlot under protest, but there's no way on earth (or anywhere else) that I'd pay $2.40 more for Conundrum! Unfortunately, I've not found on my more recent sailings any real ability of the server to suggest a wine. It's more of a "do you want a cab or a merlot?" discussion, if they have a merlot available. With rare exceptions, they're just not that skilled at wine pairings. Admittedly, it's a 7-14 day menu so it would be harder to match on the fly, but I'd think they'd work up pairings ahead of time. And agree on Decoy... (Now if they had Duckhorn, it would be a different story.) I'll wish you luck on the research. A number of folks have talked about Regent and their all included model. It took some work, but I tracked down one of their wine lists (here on Cruise Critic, I believe) and while all (that I looked at anyway) their by the glass offerings were included, they were still pretty pedestrian wines. The French restaurant onboard did have an interesting selection of French wines that I'd probably try. I'm reluctantly accepting that the drink package is a better deal for cocktails, maybe rum, and some whiskies. So far the martinis are included, although I'm more of a whisky cocktail person. The wines are not great, and many aren't even that good. The best benefit to the package if you want a nice glass of wine with dinner is probably the bottle discount. That just makes it more difficult to have a different glass of wine with your courses or for my wife and I to have a different wine based on what we're ordering. The "other reds and whites" that were once a key feature of the Luminae wine list aren't in the app anymore. And if they're onboard the servers (I largely refuse to call them sommeliers) rarely offer them unless you really ask.

The last time we cruised in a sky suite, in November, we had large bottles of I believe Evian in the cabin that were replenished by the butler/cabin steward at no charge. Those were on the counter and not chilled (which we actually preferred). The mini-bar is not (officially) included in a sky suite or celebrity suite. Your butler/retreat host "may" offer to replenish it. If they don't, your best bet is probably to ask them to empty the fridge so you can put your own drinks in.

FYI, you can accomplish the same thing by saving your passes to your phone's wallet. Without internet, it's a static copy just like a paper copy. (As an aside, if you buy an event ticket through most ticket services (Ticketmaster, for instance), they will tell you screen shots and printouts of the ticket in your app aren't accepted. But the ticket in your phone's wallet is. The only event tickets I've had in hard copy for years are the ones I've bought directly at the box office (usually theater tickets in NYC) or specialty tickets (floor seats, pit for some shows, etc.) with restricted distribution to reduce resale and scalping. And since they're all thermal printed and fade out, they're not even good souvenirs anymore.)

A lot of people pay for experiences. That's what we're doing by cruising, isn't it? You cook it steak places were pretty popular a few years back. Haven't looked for one in years. It wasn't about the steak; it was the experience. Cook your own steak, paint and wine shops, cupcake decorating, and art classes have nothing to do with the product or not knowing how to cook a steak or frost a cupcake. It's the experience. The cupcake experience on RCL's Freedom and Oasis class ships was always booked solid. People sign up for the mixology classes on Celebrity. And wine tastings. The glass blowing is a lot of fun. It's all the same. People are buying an experience and maybe they learn a little in the process. That's actually a recurring theme in most marketing to Millenials in particular; they buy experiences over products. No issue if you don't get it. Just means you're not the target market. But they're successful enough that there is a target market.

Thanks! I was looking at a trip planner, either TFL or Google Maps, and it was giving a much longer travel estimate than that. Maybe time of day, or it was planning a long slow walk to and from the Tube. Don't recall exactly, but I'm thinking it was over a half hour total travel time, and the Abbey's posted hours are an early closing time.

The App Store still says iOS 17 or higher. Curious if anyone on 16 got it to install.

Assuming everyone has a unique logon, and not everyone has an iPhone, WhatsApp should be fine. If everyone has an iPhone, just use iMessage. In either case if you have alerts on you’ll receive an alert.

Boulud is the Executive Chef. He designed the menu. It’s prepared by the chefs onboard. Which is mostly true of any restaurant.

Did you look in the app? That’s your best source. Per the app, for my Summit sailing next month, Whispering Angel is $17. There’s a Le Bel Olivier, also French, at $10. There may be others.

Where? Generally open all night if docked. I've never done it at a tender port, but pretty sure they run at a reduced frequency all night.

Marriott, United Airlines, Target, REI... Every app in the iOS store that allows in app purchases has had this almost from the beginning of iOS. If that's all the wallet is, then there's no good reason for it to require iOS 7! App development on the cheap? EU requirements? Some other driver of iOS 17? Understand. But every app in the iOS store that allows in app purchases can do this and could do this probably going back to the first version of iOS. I don't expect a cruise company to be a great IT company, but this one should be explained. Or fixed... The major change in their upgrade notes is the wallet. Maybe that's not the driver here. But if there's no real driver...

Do you mean the old Celebrity app? In the other thread people found they could no longer use the previous app. That’s what started that thread. Don’t expect the old app to continue to work fine.

I'm not going to disagree with that. But do you seriously think anyone in Celebrity management understands that? This version says it added a "guest wallet" which must only be available onboard or after check-in; I don't see it in my app. They're probably either leveraging a feature of iOS 17 for their security, or maybe didn't want to validate the security on older versions. The app development was probably outsourced. To a group that doesn't know anyone with an iPhone earlier than iPhone 11, and maybe even 12. They probably all have 15 Pros/Max. Why would being able to run iOS 17 be an issue? This smells of a classic case of requirements creep coupled with continuing beyond the good idea cutoff point. Since probably no one has used the guest wallet yet, I can see a new release on the app shortly that runs on iOS 16. Without the new toy...

Uber is fine in NYC. In fact, many of those private drivers are also Uber drivers. Carmel and Dial7 are the most common private car services mentioned around here. Taxis are a flat rate of I believe $70 plus any tolls and tips to Manhattan, but that's from JFK itself. Test book on Uber and see what you're looking at. It should be a lot better than $330.

Me neither. If that's using an iOS 17 unique feature, that would (like it or not) explain it. Whether a guest wallet is really a necessity is a different question. I guess I'll see next month...

Are you going to skip the wine pairing? I know it gets ridiculous at some point, but I want to believe it's curated for the menu. Which unfortunately the standard wines won't be. But the wine pairing can also be a LOT of wine, and at some point you stop appreciating it. (Years ago on I think Brilliance of the Seas we did a Chef's table that automatically came with the wine pairing. It was a great dinner. I rarely do wine pairings, even though I understand the theoretical benefit.)

Arrived today. Haven't had a chance to use it yet. The infamous FW50 batteries were dead (haven't shot for awhile). Slapped it on the a6500 and just focused across the house. Even that was impressive. I think the longest lens I've owned was a 55-250 "kit lens" for a Canon Rebel. I can already see this will blow that out of the water! Have a road trip next week where it's probably the absolute wrong lens, but I think it's going anyway. Need to play with it and check its limits before trying to turn that brown spot on the spring snow into a bear...

Apple pretty much defines any iPhone model that hasn't been sold in at least 5 but less than 7 years "vintage". They can theoretically be repaired (subject to parts availability) and receive major security upgrades. They're a little unclear on version (whole number, if you will) upgrades, but I don't think they receive them. iPhones become obsolete at 7 years. No official support. The 8+ seems ancient to me, but it was discontinued in 2020. Apparently iOS 17 requires an A12 chip or higher; the 8 has an A11. Odd, because it's not even "vintage" by Apple's own definition. No idea what's different in iOS 17 (probably from a security standpoint) that Celebrity doesn't want to make its app backward compatible.

@mcatmcat Why did you book Aqua? Many if not most people on the board actually think the Aqua cabins are an upsell for less desirable cabin locations (not sure about that on E Class). Arguably the only benefit to Aqua you couldn't otherwise buy is Blu; you can pay for a spa package and fitness classes (if you even plan to do them). The charge for those is often less than the upcharge to Aqua. So again, you're left with Blu as the reason to upgrade. Blu was originally set up as a "healthier" cuisine restaurant. It's arguable on that now, but the menu is probably the most adventurous on the ship. My wife and I did our first Celebrity cruise in Aqua, then got hooked on the Retreat and Luminae (before the fares went through the roof). When we took that cruise, Blu seemed to be in a state of flux and that "Clean Cuisine" wasn't really there. But the food was excellent and the service was great. It's tight (I'm sure they'd market it as "intimate"). But as a general rule you're not going to find typical MDR dishes in Blu. Looking at the app, I don't see shrimp cocktails or French onion soups or prime rib. If that's what you're looking at on the MDR menu, you probably should price a standard IV or maybe Concierge cabin and add on the thermal spa. For the record, on that first Celebrity cruise after years on Royal, the last several in Junior Suites, we didn't know exactly why we booked Aqua either. It seemed more "special" without the upcharge of a suite. It was only well after booking and maybe even after boarding that we appreciated Blu. But not everyone appreciates Blu. We're all different...

Yes. With two logons you can both be online at the same time. That's what you're paying for (even if it was included in the Retreat package). To be clear, you CANNOT both be online at the same time sharing a logon.

Thank you! (No sarcasm.)

When you check in, you’ll have instructions to create an account for each passenger. You can do both from one account, but that defeats the purpose of having two logons. Very simple and straightforward.